The Meeting of Volatile Swordsmen
by DGtnsl
Summary: Kanda is looking for Innocence in a small town when he comes across a suspicious silver-haired man. So, Kanda confronts him. How will this all go? Read and find out! Collaboration with MayR9


**IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE**: Hi! This story is actually a collaboration between me and MayR9. But, because I have more experience posting stories, she wanted me to post the fic here on my profile page. You should check her out at u / 4168889 / MayR9. Without the spaces and with periods obviously. Anywho, this was originally my idea but because I've only seen the dub of D-Gray Man and she loves it, she wrote the D-Gray Man parts and I wrote the KHR parts. Hopefully we meshed them both successfully(btw, ignore time differences between fandoms)! Enjoy!

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><p>Kanda walked down the streets of a small town in Austria. Or Hungary. Or Austria-Hungary. Meh, Kanda didn't care <em>what<em> the European country was called. Stupid European nations were always changing their names anyway. He had the general idea of exactly where he was, and could point to it on a map. But what was important was that he was finally separated from that annoying 'master' General Tiedoll. Geez, why did he have to treat Kanda like a kid - _his_ kid for that matter? What an annoying pest of an old man.

Anyway, Kanda was currently investigating the town, and two nearby ones, for any trace of Innocence. Why was Kanda doing this when it was a Finder's job? Well, that would be because Akuma had been sighted in the area. Still, stupid Finders should be doing their damn jobs and finding the Innocence instead of reporting back to base on a couple measly Akuma and forcing an Exorcist to come and do their job. Damn Finders. So completely helpless.

Kanda glanced suspiciously at the people around him. Anybody here could be an Akuma. That was one thing the Finders had been able to do right in this area - confirm the presence of Akuma, that is. It was at times like this that Kanda almost, _almost_, wanted to be able to see Akuma souls and detect them like that Beansprout could. Almost. But Kanda still preferred relying on his own instincts and reflexes if attacked. Nothing was more satisfying that avoiding an attack you didn't even know was coming. Though, when you were an Exorcist you should always be expecting an attack. That was one of the things he disliked about Allen and Lavi and even Lenalee. They relied on Allen's Akuma detection too much and were too carefree when not fighting Akuma. Did those two forget everything they'd be trained to do and observe as soon as they found out Allen's ability to detect Akuma was reliable? Well, somewhat reliable. And he couldn't detect the Noah. So Kanda didn't really see the need to have full confidence (or even partial confidence) in anything Allen could do. He was a Beansprout after all.

Kanda's inner ramblings were brought to a screeching halt when he abruptly dodged out of the way of something coming from his right by leaping backwards a few feet; the skills he'd been thinking about earlier coming in handy.

Was it an Akuma?

The Japanese man raised a hand to his sword, looking around. He quickly located the projectile that almost hit him and saw that it was a wine bottle. Expensive, if the lack of shattered glass was anything to go by. Kanda relaxed slightly, briefly wondering on who would be throwing expensive wine around as he took in his surroundings with more scrutiny. He noticed that the townspeople were barely reacting to the bottle throwing, most averting their eyes and hurrying on their way. Scared, wary, or simply used to it? Maybe this was a common occurrence in this area. Suddenly, Kanda did a double take, catching a flash of silver-white hair. What the hell was the Beansprout doing here? He was supposed to be looking for that missing General. Cross, was it? Upon closer inspection, he abandoned the idea that it was the Beansprout. First of all, the hair was more silver than snowy white. Plus, it was waaay too long to belong to Allen, reaching the waist of the person wearing it. Besides that, the person was taller than Allen. And to top it off, the person was in a wine store. Allen Walker would rather be caught dead than in a wine store, buying alcohol (or so he had been told by a rather drunk Rabbit a few weeks back).

Kanda watching the proceedings in the store, still standing by the bottle of wine in the road, townspeople still going about their own business, ignoring the shouting coming from inside said store. If Kanda was hearing right, the person - male, that was definitely a man's voice - was yelling in Italian at the shopkeeper about prices. Something about "this shit being to low quality to be so expensive." Of course, that was if Kanda was hearing correctly. When was the last time he spoke or heard Italian?

Kanda continued to watch, amused. He quickly concluded that the long-haired man inside the store had thrown the bottle of wine in his direction over "rip off" prices. The shopkeeper looked terrified, shaking but not cowering. Somewhat commendable. He appeared to be letting the unhappy customer rant and rave while also trying to placate him. He then nodded obediently to something the silver-haired man had said then disappeared further into the store, leaving his customer to tap his foot impatiently.

Kanda glanced down at the bottle in the road and raised one eyebrow. before looking back at the man in the store. He was wearing black leather boots, pants, and jacket. Must not be that comfortable, it was a warm day after all, but who was he to judge? Kanda was wearing a black uniform as well. Uniform… Yes, that was definitely what the other man was wearing; a black leather uniform, judging by the silver cord on the right shoulder, which resembled something like the military. Hmm. He also had a long, thin package over his left shoulder which reminded Kanda of the packages used to conceal swords in Japan.

The man glanced over his shoulder just as Kanda was scrutinizing him. Their eyes meet and the man smiled a bloodthirsty smile at him. Kanda saw why the townspeople didn't make a fuse now - his senses were telling him that this man was dangerous, and weak people tended to avoid dangerous people. They kept eye contact for a second longer before the shopkeeper returned with a different bottle of wine. The silver-haired man turned back to the counter, sniffed the wine, put down some money and then exited the shop. He smirked at Kanda, eyes catching on the emblem of Kanda's uniform. Kanda snorted silently and then headed off in the direction he had been traveling. However his attention was still on the taller man. So he noticed the man watching him before turning into a nearby alley.

Kanda's eyes narrowed. Did that man know about the Order? Could he have been an Akuma, or even Noah? He certainly seemed dangerous enough. And the townspeople seemed afraid of him, though, they were townspeople. Townspeople are always afraid. But if he was an overconfident Akuma, he could have threatened the town into submission. That might explain why that shopkeeper didn't fuss over that bottle in the road. Hmm.

Kanda decided to shadow the strange man and determine if he was related to the Earl in any way. Normally he wouldn't bother. But there were supposed to be Akuma in the area, and Noah activity was on the rise. If this guy was the Noah that was in Barcelona, then he would be sure to end it's miserable existence.

Who knew that such a small town would have such twisted side streets? The silver-haired man kept going unerringly forward, away from the hustle of the main streets. Soon enough, Kanda, _Kanda_, lost him in the maze. He paused in an open courtyard like place attached to the alley he was currently in. Damn, that man lost him. All the doors in the alley he was in and had been in were closed, same with the lower level windows - if there was a third story, then a window might be open, but besides that they were all closed. Kanda huffed silently. How could he have lost his target? This was unheard of. If the man turned into an Akuma, surely Kanda would have seen the beast-machine flying off. But what if this was his ability? Noah or Akuma, they all had abilities. Melding into walls, blending into the surroundings, or slipping through small cracks - it'd all happened before. Kanda stopped and focused, trying to sense the man's presence. He abruptly whirled around and faced one of the one story buildings squished between two two story buildings. Clothing lines were in the way, but Kanda felt the bloodthirsty presence of the man from the alcohol store.

"Voooii! Not bad kid!" the man yelled in Japanese, surprisingly enough. The man revealed himself, shoving aside a sheet hung out to dry. The bag with the wine in it was not on his person, and neither was the bag on his shoulder, but there was a double edged sword in his left hand. _So,_ Kanda thought, _it was a sword in the bag_.

Kanda raised his eyebrow before shifting into a stance that would allow him to draw Mugen easily.

The silver-haired man laughed. "I'm impressed you followed me this far! Looks like you don't carry a sword for nothing." His grin was just as maniacal as the one he wore in the shop.

"Che. The question is whether or not you carry a sword for nothing." Kanda internally grinned, it was nice to speak in his mother tongue.

"Alright, kid. You wanna fight? Vooi! Then let's go!"

The silver-haired man immediately jumped down from the building, swinging his sword in a downward slash that would have gotten his shoulder and torso had he not drawn Mugen as fast as he did. With both blades pushing against each other, Kanda noticed that the man was not holding his sword but that the sword was tied to his wrist. Strange, but it reinforced the idea that the man was either an Akuma or more likely, a Noah.

They exchanged several blows, neither cutting the other. The man was skilled, but Kanda was _Kanda_. And he was not going to be bested so easily. In a move that the man didn't see, Kanda twisted his body, and planted a firm kick to his midsection, knocking him back and allowing Kanda to follow up with a sword slash while the man was still disoriented. Or so he thought. The man twisted to the side and leapt back. Kanda took this to his advantage and continued to push the man back. The fight was becoming more interesting than Kanda had originally predicted.

"Not bad, kid," the man said with another smirk.

"Che."

Then the man started moving from defensive to offensive, twisting out of the way of one of Kanda's slashes and moving to stab him in the side. Kanda quickly avoided with grace, and countered with a quick jab at the man's face. The man flipped backwards, putting space between them, before charging forward again. This time, when Kanda and the man locked swords, Kanda felt a strange wave travel through him. He knew instantly that his arm was paralyzed. What the hell!?

Unfortunately for the man, Kanda punched his arm to get rid of the numbness in it. He quickly jumped backwards, avoiding the man's next sword slash. Kanda though, noticed that his arm was now weaker than before. What was that move? Damn, this must be one of the Akuma or Noah's special abilities. He had to start taking the battle more seriously.

"Mugen, unsheath," he said, drawing two fingers down the length of his blade, the silver-haired man watching with interest as the previously all-black blade gained a silver strip where the sharp edge of the blade was. Kanda smirked, before raising his katana to slash horizontally, "First illusion: Hell's Insects" and he slashed, causing a blue light to shine briefly, before suddenly there were these strange, see-through insects with multiple red eyes swarming the man. The man's eyes widened in disbelief, before narrowing again. He twisted and dodged, slicing several insects to pieces. But he missed one which managed to bite him before he sliced it in two. He cursed in Italian and several other languages and looked at the Japanese swordsman who was, for once, smirking. But instead of appearing intimidated or frightened, the silver-haired man grinned an even more blood-thirsty grin.

"Voi. This is getting interesting, kid. What's your name?" he asked.

"Che. It's only good manners to give yours first," Kanda replied.

The swordsman snorted. "Superbi Squalo; you?"

Kanda snorted as well, what a weird name. Then again, he was Italian. Italians were weird. Well, everyone was weird in Kanda's opinion. "Kanda," he said shortly.

"I fought a swordsman like you once, Kanda. Someone who used the Mist to make illusions during battle. But your illusions are different from normal illusions. You actually make your illusions reality." The man grinned again. "This is much more fun."

"Che."

Squalo seemed to agree that their conversation was now over, and charged again. His blade thrusting forward multiple times at incredible speed, almost like it was biting the air in front of it. "Zanna di Squalo," he laughed. Kanda understood it to mean "Fang of the Shark." Stupid. Without batting an eye Kanda flipped up and over the man Kanda has dubbed Same (Japanese for Shark). Kanda idly wondered if this man ate shark; he seemed to like them well enough. But jumping up and over was probably a mistake - the attack just followed him through the air. With a growl Kanda began to block while dancing around Squalo.

The two continued to block and attack each other. Kanda was annoyed to think that they might be evenly matched. He started to wonder if he should use Mugen's second illusion; but he soon scratched the idea as he whirled around and sliced Akuma bullets that were aimed at him, while simultaneously dodging most of Squalo's attacks. Luckily for Kanda, Squalo had also noticed the incoming missiles and stopped in the middle of his attack to jump out of the way, landing on the very rooftop he had been previously on. However he didn't expect to land on an area where the wood was rotten. As the wood fell away, he quickly jumped back onto the ground. He whipped around to look at where the attack came from, both swordsmen momentarily stopping their battle. Squalo was surprised to note the lack of killing intent nearby. What the hell?

Unlike his opponent, Kanda jumped high into the air, doing a quick scan of the area the bullets came from. Spotting movement, Kanda promptly twisted and arching Mugen so that when he crashed through the window, Mugen broke the shutters, allowing Kanda to land on his feet and dodge the next wave of missiles that destroyed the wall behind him.

The Akuma revealed itself to be not one, but two. Their bulbous metal bodies and numerous guns floating in the air inside the building. Without pausing, Kanda charged the nearest one, and stabbed it clean through with Mugen, before twirling away to avoid the explosion its death caused. The second Akuma whirled around and flew away, deciding to escape through the wall, making a hole wide enough for Kanda to follow. Squalo eyed the machine creature with interest (and confusion, though that was hidden), before noticing Kanda jump out of the hole and land on the creature's head, or what he figured was its head. Kanda flipped backwards, slicing the creature in two for a moment before it exploded, Kanda landing gracefully on the ground. Squalo placed his right hand on his hip and watched the explosion without flinching or covering his eyes.

"Che," Kanda said, whipping some blood off his face, or was it oil?

"Voi! What was that, kid?" he called to the younger man. "Not yours, obviously."

Kanda raised a brow as a signal for Squalo to elaborate.

Squalo rolled his eyes, kids these days. "That machine, brat. Obviously it wasn't yours. What was it?" he said the last part slowly, as though talking to a child.

Kanda's expression darken a bit before he "che"-ed and sheathed his sword. Squalo was obviously not a Noah, so he had no more business with him. "An Akuma; and if you come across someone who claims to own one, I would suggest killing them before they kill you." With that, Kanda walked away swiftly, disappearing behind a building.

Squalo was silent for a moment before calling out to the retreating figure. "Vooi, Kanda! I look forward to fighting you again sometime."

Squalo wasn't surprised that the stoic Japanese boy didn't reply. Instead, he headed back toward the roof of the one-story building, avoiding the huge bullet holes in the ground. Spotting the hole in the roof, he cursed before jumping down into it.

"Damn boss, making me buy his damn wine. It better not be broken," he muttered darkly.

Squalo rummaged through some wood before locating the bottle of wine he'd purchased from that store earlier. He checked it over for damage, luckily there was none, before exiting the building. Now he could leave this little town. One more assassination mission completed, one more exotic, expensive wine purchased for his alcohol loving boss. Shame the drink would probably end up in his hair.

As Squalo left the town (leaving the sword attached to his wrist and thus scaring the townspeople some more, he was from the _Varia_ after all) he thought back to the boy, Kanda. He'd probably never see that kid again. What a disappointment; he'd actually been fun to fight, unlike various other opponents. And Squalo wanted to crush his sword style, like he'd done to countless others. Oh well. Time to return to life in the Mafia.

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><p>And that's that. MayR9 suggested we make another crossover. I dunno if it'll be a second chapter to this one or a separate one shot, but we'll figure that out eventually. You guys can weigh in too! Let us know if we did okay working together, I look forward to it!<p> 


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